1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a binding apparatus that post-processes and binds the sheets discharged from an image-forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An exemplary typical binding apparatus includes a sheet processing unit having a sheet sorter and a binding conveyor, a sheet conveying unit, a tape feeder unit, a binding unit serving as a sheet post-processing means, and a stacker (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 8-301504).
In such a binding apparatus, for example, as a sheet bundle is moved to a tape heater unit, a tape is supplied from the tape feeder unit. As the tape is supplied from the tape feeder unit, the sheet bundle is moved to the binding unit, and a binding process for attaching the tape to the rear surface and the side surface of the sheet bundle is performed so that the bound booklet is loaded on the stacker using the binding conveyor.
In addition, as the binding process, there is known an adhesive binding process of integrating the printed sheets into a volume of the sheet bundle. The adhesive binding unit includes a unit for discharging a glue to the sheets using an adhesive discharge nozzle, a unit for installing a glue stick in the glue casing, attaching a glue to the outer circumference of the rotating glue stick, and brining the outer circumference of the glue stick into contact with the sheets to transfer the glue by contact, a hot-melt coating unit for discharging a combination of the hot-melt agent (thermal bonding agent) and the compressed hot air from the nozzle, and a tape attaching unit for attaching the tape to the rear portion of the sheet bundle while heating the tape where the glue having viscosity has been coated in advance.
In such a typical binding apparatus, a plurality of notched trenches are formed in the end side of the sheet bundle using a milling apparatus after the sheet bundle is clamped using a clamp device, and the glue is coated on the end side of the sheet bundle having the notched trenches. In addition, in some binding apparatuses, the notch portion is formed in the end side where the glue is coated in the sheet conveyance path during the sheet binding process (refer to JP-A No. 2007-62145)
In this manner, if a notch portion or a notched trench is formed in the end side of the sheet bundle in order to coat the glue during the sheet binding process, scraps are generated and make the apparatus dirty. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a scrap recovery unit. In addition, a special tool such as a milling apparatus or a puncher is necessary. This increases the size and the cost of the apparatus.